Eclectic, artist-led festival Buzzcut returns

Steadfastly refusing to be easily defined, Buzzcut promises more art, provocation and discussion

Having established a presence in the city centre through the Double Thrills season, the team at Buzzcut returns to Govan's Pearce Institute for its annual festival of performance. Attracting artists from around the world, the festival continues to offer a platform for work that evades easy definition and provokes thought alongside intense emotions.

Part of its distinctive attitude is the event's refusal to be confined by definitions. 'I believe both performance and live art are experimental ways of exploring how you live in the world and how you express that to other people,' says Daisy Douglas, a member of the core team. 'But it's not necessarily helpful to define it in specific terms,' adds Karl Taylor. 'This debate is so constant and it often takes away from the art.'

Instead, Taylor continues, by naming itself as a 'performance festival', Buzzcut 'allows itself to be as large as possible, to allow anyone to access it. Performance can be anything.' And with 51 artists presenting work over the five days, everything from choreography through monologues to the very-difficult-to-label will be presented. Familiar local artists, such as FK Alexander and Gillian Lees are returning, next to performers from Latin America and Europe. Eclecticism is the essence of the programme's curation.

Buzzcut has gained an international reputation for both the diversity of talent on display and its approach to curation with the emphasis on conversation, free thought and inclusion. With the Side Burns thread setting aside time and space for conversations about the work ('it's like a more formalised space to share ideas in a focussed way,' adds Taylor. 'There will be provocations and group discussions), Buzzcut attempts to break down the suspicions around experimental performance and provides a comprehensive look at the state of the art.

Cutting edge performance art festival created in December 2011 in response to the shock cancellation of the well-established New Territories festival. Buzzcut is all about sharing: food, ideas and homes.